Onboarding via zDirect User Interface (UI)

To onboard your assortment and start selling on Zalando, we need information about your articles, prices and stock. This is typically done by technically integrating your system with Zalando. Onboarding your articles via zDirect’s UI enables you to submit this information without setting up connections with Zalando APIs.  ZFS will then take care of updating your stock in the markets you are live in.

Article onboarding via zDirect UI is currently available to partners who wish to integrate with Zalando using a direct integration method, and will use ZFS as their fulfillment solution. 

We recommend onboarding your articles via the zDirect UI if you:

• Want to further streamline the integration process and begin onboarding articles and setting prices right away, without setting up an API connection.

• Don’t have the time or technical resources to set up an API connection.

• Have an article assortment of up to 200 articles per season. Technically there is no limit to onboarding over 200 articles, but one-by-one article creation via zDirect can be time-consuming for larger assortments, as it takes approximately five minutes to enter the information of a standard article with three color variants. 

After logging in to zDirect for the first time, the zDirect Partner Onboarding dashboard is the first page you will see. 

You will be asked how you would like to onboard your articles. You can then click Choose method button and select Use zDirect User Interface.

Based upon this choice, you will be guided through the onboarding steps and will skip steps related to setting up API connections. You can change your choice any time during the onboarding process using the Change method button. 

If you decide that you want to set up API connections after you have already started selling on Zalando, you can do so at any time.

As a next step, you need to complete your ZFS fulfilment forecast and then proceed with your zDirect Account Setup and submit your information for approval. 

Once you have received approval from Zalando, a green check mark will appear beside the Account setup task, and you can begin your next task: Onboard your articles.

Click the Onboard articles button that will bring you through to the Article onboarding page within the Article module.

The Article onboarding page guides you through article onboarding by highlighting what tasks are open and where you can complete those tasks in zDirect. The image below provides an overview of each possible task and status. For example, if there are no issues with the article information, the option Fix articles won’t appear to you. We’ll explore each of these tasks in more detail below. 

Please note: Article onboarding is not always a sequential process and some steps don’t happen in real time. The graphic below gives you an overview of the standard process your articles and prices go through when being onboarded by a partner to sell on Zalando.

The zDirect UI will guide you through the process of onboarding your articles in the most efficient way possible. Typically it occurs in the following order (you can click on each of the steps to find out more):

1. Create articles and add their attributes. 

2. Set prices while the articles are being reviewed. 

3. Correct your prices, if required. 

4. Fix your articles if they were rejected by Zalando. 

5. Complete your onboarding by submitting your ZFS Shipping Notice.

To create an article, click on the Create articles button. This will take you directly to the Article Creation UI where you can add articles and their attributes. These articles will then be submitted to Zalando to review them.

Once you have submitted an article for review, you can either Create Another Article or Return to Article onboarding page as shown on the image below.

To see an overview of your articles that are in review, click on the link in the banner that automatically appears above the Create your articles task. This will take you to the Article Listing within the Articles module. 

You can always return to the Article onboarding page by selecting Back to Article onboarding in Article Listing.

Once you have created articles and they have been submitted for review by Zalando, you can simultaneously set your prices for them. The task to Set your prices will automatically appear in the Article onboarding page when it is available to you. 

By selecting the Set prices button, you can then download a pre-filled price template in the form of a CSV file. Please find the step by step guide for setting your prices in zDirect here. 

After price submission, your prices undergo automatic validation. This takes a maximum of one hour from the time of submission if the submitted prices correspond to created articles. Should you submit prices corresponding to articles which are still being reviewed by Zalando, the automatic price validation will only occur once Zalando’s review of the corresponding articles is successfully completed. 

Once the review is complete, if any articles have been rejected, the section Fix articles will automatically appear.

Click on Review rejected articles to get an overview of which articles need to be corrected and fix them using the zDirect Article Creation UI as described here.

If there are any issues with your submitted prices the section to Correct your prices will automatically appear. 

From there, you can select Manage prices to view the status of your prices, download a Price Validation report and resolve any issues you might have with your prices.

Article onboarding is complete when none of your articles need to be fixed or have their prices corrected. At this point, all that is left to do is to complete and submit your Shipping Notice. As soon as the ZFS team has received your stock and updated your stock levels, our operational teams will switch your account to live.

To return to your Partner Onboarding dashboard simply select Back to Onboarding. When the shipping notice is yet to be completed, if they're currently onboarding, user is directed here:

You can return to Article onboarding from several places in zDirect.

When you have finished creating your articles, you can return through the button Return to Article onboarding.

If you find yourself on the Article Listing page, you can return via the button Back to Article onboarding.

Regardless of where you are on zDirect, you can also return to your Onboarding Dashboard by clicking the Apps icon () in the top right of zDirect. From the drop-down menu, select Business Profile, and then Onboard articles.

Need some help?

You can get assistance at any time by contacting Partner Care here.